[362] Henry is right in supposing the sense to be that she has been glaring at him silently during his speech, and bursts out when he has done. ‘Aversa:’ she looks at him askance, but keeps her eyes on him nevertheless. ‘Aversa’ might be neuter pl. (see on 6. 467); but it seems more natural to take it as fem. sing. Either is sufficiently idiomatic: see on G. 3. 28., 4. 370.
[363] For the conjunction of ‘oculi’ and ‘lumina’ in the same sentence see G. 4. 451. ‘Pererrare luminibus’ like “obire visu” 10. 447.
[364] “‘Luminibus tacitis’ pro ‘ipsa tacita,’” Serv., rightly. Other interpretations proceed on the mistaken supposition that Dido is represented as eyeing Aeneas during her own speech, not during his.
[365] Imitated from Il. 16. 33 foll., where Patroclus reproaches Achilles for hard-heartedness.
[366] Cautibus probably with ‘horrens.’ Virg. makes Dido indulge in those geographical recollections of which he is himself so fond. With the general sense comp. E. 8. 33 foll., a passage which supports those who would regard ‘cautibus’ here as a local abl. Virg. may have been thinking of Ariadne's reproaches to Theseus, Catull. 62. (64). 154. foll. (comp. Id. 58 (60).) The meaning apparently is that a rock was his mother and a tigress his nurse. Comp. the Ovidian Dido, vv. 37, 38.
[368] She asks why she should hide her feelings, as if there were likely to be any greater occasion to call forth their full force.
[369] Fletu nostro at or in consequence of my tears; so that the expression is not quite parallel to “nostro doluisti saepe dolore” 1. 669 (note). ‘Lumina flexit’ above v. 331.
[371] I incline to Serv.'s interpretation “quid prius, quid posterius dicam?” as against Heyne's “Annon haec extrema sunt?” There may be more feeling in the latter, but the former is a thought to which the classical writers were partial in describing emotion, as we have seen on v. 284. For the double question comp. G. 2. 256. ‘Iam’ seems to mean ‘it is come to this,’ and the repetition strengthens it. See on 2. 701. ‘Maxuma Iuno’ 8. 84. 10. 685.
[372] Aequis is here ‘just’ rather than ‘favourable,’ as Dido obviously is bringing a charge against the gods, not simply noting them as unpropitious. In 9. 209, where the words partially recur, the context rather inclines to the other sense. It signifies little whether we make ‘Saturnius’ adj. or subst.
[373] ‘There is no faith in the world that one can trust.’ Dido generalizes like the chorus in the Medea, v. 412, ἀνδράσι μὲν δόλιαι βουλαί, θεῶν δ᾽ οὐκέτι πίστις ἄραρε, or Ariadne, Catull. 62 (64). 143 foll. With ‘eiectum’ comp. 1. 578, with ‘egentem’ ib. 599. ‘Litore’ is a local abl. Ov. M. 13. 535 has “eiectum in litore corpus.” Serv. ingeniously joins ‘litore egentem,’ comparing 1. 540, “hospitio prohibemur arenae.”
[374] In parte locavi 12. 145.
[375] We must supply some less strong expression than ‘a morte reduxi’ for ‘amissam classem.’ The quasi-confusion, as Wagn. remarks, is quite in keeping with Dido's state of mind. Comp. Aesch. Ag. 659, ὁρῶμεν ἀνθοῦν πέλαγος Αἰγαῖον νεκροῖς Ἀνδρῶν Ἀχαιῶν ναυτικῶν τ᾽ ἐρειπίων, where there is not the slightest ground for altering the text. ‘A morte reduxi’ because they might have perished from want after landing. She talks of the fleet as if she deserved credit for bringing it into harbour as well as for refitting it.
[376] See v. 110. It matters little whether ‘furiis’ be taken with ‘incensa’ or with ‘feror.’ ‘Augur Apollo’ Hor. 1 Od. 2. 32. ‘Nunc’ seems to mean, ‘now, just when it is most convenient to him and most fatal to me.’ As before, some other verb must be supplied from ‘fert iussa per auras.’
[378] Aeneas had described Mercury's appearance with every circumstance of solemnity: Dido contemptuously condenses and exaggerates the feeling in the epithet ‘horrida.’ Med. has ‘horrida dicta,’ from v. 226 (so Heyne, but Ribbeck is silent).
[379] ‘Yes, of course the gods are busied about extricating you and entangling me.’ ‘Quietos’ is probably the Homeric θεοὶ ῥεῖα ζώοντες, but Dido has thrown into the expression a dash of Epicureanism, which would not have been possible to a Homeric personage.
[380] Te is emphasized. ‘I neither detain your person, nor refute your words.’ Thus ‘tua dicta’ is not required.
[381] Serv. has a good note: “Satis artificiosa prohibitio, quae fit per concessionem: quae tamen ne non intellecta sit persuasio, permiscenda sunt aliqua quae vetent latenter, ut ‘ventis,’ ‘per undas,’ nomina terribilia, et ‘sequere,’ quasi fugientem.” The line in fact supplies a good instance of the delicacy and (so to call it) sensitiveness of Virg.'s language, as while the words themselves in Dido's mouth and in the present context have undoubtedly the meaning which Serv. attributes to them (comp. vv. 310, 313), in another context and in the mouth of another speaker they might have indicated a prosperous voyage undertaken under good auspices. Thus “vento petiisse Mycenas” 2. 25, if it has any special meaning, points to the wind as favouring the journey. See also on v. 361 above. Some MSS. connect ‘ventis’ with what follows.
[382] Pia numina: see on 2. 536. The Ovidian Dido is more lenient, vv. 61 foll.
[383] Haurire of suffering to the full, like ἀντλεῖν, and the old Latin ‘exantlare.’ “Quot, quantas, quam incredibiles hausit calamitates!” Cic. 1 Tusc. 35. Waardenburg thinks there is a special reference to death by drowning; but though such a wavering between two meanings would be sufficiently like Virg., Aeneas' repeated cries on Dido would precede, not follow, his ‘drinking the stifling wave.’ It was natural that those who could not understand ‘hausurum’ should conjecture ‘haesurum,’ as Erythraeus did; but ‘supplicia’ presented a difficulty, which was not satisfactorily surmounted by reading ‘supplicio.’ ‘Mediis scopulis’ implies of course shipwreck on a rock. ‘Dido’ may either be the Greek accusative or the vocative. The latter is more probable, as Virg. elsewhere studiously avoids using any inflexion of the word, adopting ‘Elissa’ instead in oblique cases. Comp. Prop. 1. 18. 31, “resonent mihi Cynthia silvae.” Ov. however, while not using any other inflexion of the word, has ‘Dido’ twice as an acc., vv. 7, 133. Cerda collects instances from the Latin poets of drowning persons calling out the names of those who were most in their minds. Comp. also Croesus' cry on Solon in Hdt. 1.
[384] Dido will haunt him like a Fury with funeral torches when she is really far away; in other words, the thought of her, angry and revengeful, will ever be present to him. The threat is from Medea in Apoll. R. 4. 385, “ἐκ δέ σε πάτρης Αὐτίκ᾽ ἐμαί σ᾽ ἐλάσειαν Ἐρινύες”. Comp. Id. 3. 703, ἢ σοί γε φίλοις σὺν παισὶ θανοῦσα Ἐίην ἐξ Ἀΐδεω στυγερὴ μετόπισθεν Ἐρινύς. Dido will appear like Clytaemnestra v. 472 below. ‘Ignes’ are firebrands, as in 2. 276., 9. 570. They are murky and smoky, so as to increase the horror. Thus Alecto's torches (7. 456) are “atro lumine fumantes.” For ‘absens’ see above v. 83. According to the Greek belief the living as well as the dead had their Erinnyes, which were in fact curses personified, as Müller remarks in his Dissertations on the Eumenides, so that Virg. has not deviated from mythology in making Dido become a Fury while she is yet alive, at the same time that he agrees with the more modern conception of the absent being made present by recollection. Jahn and Wagn. (smaller ed.) revive the old interpretation, Dido following Aeneas with her funeral flames, which he will see when at sea (comp. v. 661 below, 5. 3 foll.); but this would not suit the present context, as the pile would not be lighted till Dido was dead, while it would represent the thought of death too definitely for Dido's present state of mind. She has talked of death from the first (v. 308); but the notion does not become a resolution till v. 450, and the means are not devised till v. 474.
[387] Another proof (see on v. 353) that the apparition of a dead person was regarded by Virg. as separable from the spirit below. Here Dido in the shades is to hear of the effects produced on Aeneas by her spectre. The Homeric belief seems to have been that news of things above reached the shades through the newly dead or other visitors. Comp. Od. 11. 457 foll., 24. 106 foll. ‘Haec fama’ for ‘huius rei fama:’ see on 2. 170.
[388] Medium sermonem: see on v. 276. ‘Auras fugit’ like “caelum fugit” G. 3. 417. She abhors the open day, and is rushing into the house.
[390] Multa cunctantem like “haud multa moratus” 3. 610. ‘Metu,’ from fear of making things worse. ‘Multa volentem dicere’ is the reading of Med. and some inferior MSS., apparently from the parallel 2. 790, G. 4. 501.
[391] Ribbeck reads ‘succipiunt’ from Pal.: comp. 1. 175. ‘Conlapsa’ of fainting 8. 584.
[392] “‘Thalamo,’ dativus casus.” Serv.
[393-407] ‘Grieved as he is, Aeneas goes to look after his fleet. The Trojans quicken their preparations, and are as busy as ants.’
